Akron Reaches Settlement With EPA On Sewer Renovations

Friday, October 16, 2009
Topics: Environment, Politics
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The city of Akron has reached a tentative deal with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency ...establishing a timeline for stopping raw sewage from getting into the Cuyahoga River, and other waterways. The agreement would settle a lawsuit brought by the EPA against the city earlier this year. Ideastream's Bill Rice reports.

The U.S. EPA has pressured Akron for more than a decade to solve its sewage overflow problem … where raw sewage mixes with storm runoff during heavy rains and washes into the rivers.

According to a report by the Beacon Journal, sewer-system renovations will be completed within 19 years under the agreement, instead of the 30 years Akron had been seeking.  The paper also says customers’ rates may double, or even triple, as the city pays an estimated 370 million dollars for sewer projects. 

In a press release, Mayor Don Plusquellic said he accepts the terms of the agreement, which includes the city paying 500 thousand dollars in civil penalties for years of violating clean water compliance rules.  The agency had originally demanded tens of millions in fines in its lawsuit.  Plusquellic accused the agency of having been -quote - “especially unreasonable in applying rational, affordable standards” to Akron’s situation.  He said the city can now start cleaning up the Cuyahoga instead of hiring attorneys to argue with bureaucrats in Washington.